To the pig farmer in Normandy in northern France, something about the transaction seemed off. The two men had an unusual order: 10 pigs’ heads, which they loaded straight into the trunk of their car without any concern for refrigeration.

“They were two foreigners, they didn’t speak French. They spoke English badly,” the farmer told French television shortly after the incident on September 8th. “I noticed their car was Serbian. The transaction was so unusual, I took a photo of it.”

The following morning, worshippers heading in for dawn prayers at the Javel mosque in Paris were horrified to discover a bloody pig’s head dumped on the doorstep.

At least nine pigs heads were discovered outside mosques around Paris that morning – a deeply offensive and provocative act, as Islam deems the animals impure. It made the French news.

In Normandy, the farmer saw the headlines, and called the police.

That was how French investigators were able to quickly zero in on suspects for the hate crime and label it a deliberate attempt to stir ethnic tensions in France, orchestrated by Russian intelligence.

Provocative stunts targeting Jewish and Muslim communities are among a range of incidents – ranging from the bizarre to the potentially lethal – that police investigations have tracked back to Russia.

They span graffiti campaigns in Paris; the burning of a Warsaw shopping centre and a warehouse in London; exploding parcels in Leipzig and Birmingham; the sabotage of railway lines in Germany; cyberattacks and doctored viral videos across Europe; to the recent disruption of airports with drones in Norway, Denmark and Munich.

As their frequency has multiplied in recent years, European police, governments, and intelligence services have begun openly sharing the evidence they find to suggest the incidents are part of a Russian “hybrid war”: an attempt to foster instability and division in European societies, while burdening and distracting governments that are supportive of Ukraine.

The aim is “to disrupt the unity of Western states and sow discord among the citizens of European countries,” reads a report on the issue by the Czech intelligence service.

“The psychological effect of their actions is particularly crucial.